Teaching Online “Finding a Way Through Assessment Mirages: Teaching IR as a Toolset Online”

“Assessment Mirages” are assignments that are genuine, individual, student-written, and which are graded as having met a given assignment or course-level learning outcome. What makes them “mirages” is that they are a function of patch writing—a specific characteristic of student reading and writing practices—and may belie student’s lack of understanding. In teaching international relations theory, which is a complex and Latinate body of knowledge, instructors must be aware of the conditions that produce student patch-writing. This chapter argues that three strategies—de-texting, situational assignments, and multi-modal formative assignments—help to disrupt assessment mirages and promote genuine learning. The chapter argues that attending to the ways online instruction contributes to assessment mirages yields lessons for teaching across modalities and within a post-generative AI academy.